1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for simulation of a visual field of view as well as to a device for performing said method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a method and apparatus is used in the training for a battle situation on simulators of military devices as for instance tanks, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft weapons etc. The operational elements of these training devices correspond to those of actual devices; however, the function of these devices is totally or partly simulated. A main aspect of such a simulation is the replacement of the optical view of a real environment by a view of an artificial environment which comes as close to the reality as possible. In a tank simulator, for example, a TV-monitor may be arranged in the field of view of the mechanical optics such as a panoramic or aiming periscope of the commander or gunner in order to simulate the visual field of view, whereby the optical view of a real environment is replaced by TV images. When a control handle is actuated by the gunner, different addresses are designated by means of which partial cut-outs from a panorama picture stored in a background memory may be supplied to the TV-monitor. Into those partial cut-outs from the background picture, in a known manner, displays of a target may be cut in. With respect to said art, reference should be made to DE-PS No. 28 03 101 and DE-OS No. 29 19 047. There the background picture is divided into a plurality of individual images with the information of said images being presented directly as well as delayed by the TV fly-back time available. In this manner it is possible to randomly put together a partial image from a plurality of individual images, in which the partial image forms a cut-out from the background image. According to DE-PS No. 28 03 101 the individual images are recorded by a plurality of cameras, whereas according to DE-OS No. 29 19 047 the images are digitally stored. However, with digital storage each individual image must be placed in a physically defined memory area, and the image information must be presented directly as well as delayed for displaying on the monitor.